Sensat joins the B Corp revolution

From the get-go, Sensat has held sustainability central to our mission to make construction more sustainable. Following this, we are proud to announce that we have become a B Corporation!

This certification is just one way of showing our dedication to making a positive impact. We believe that business can be a force for good, and we will continue to work hard to make Sensat a leader in sustainable business practices.

What is a B Corp, and why does it matter?

According to the B lab, “Our most challenging global problems cannot be solved by governments and non-profits alone. By harnessing the power of their business, B Corps commit to positively impact all stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, and our planet.”

From this, Certified B Corporations (B Corps) were born back in 2006. B Corps are organisations that meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. There are currently over 4,000 Certified B Corporations in more than 70 countries and over 150 industries. B Corps are for-profit companies, but differ from traditional businesses because their purpose is to create a positive impact on society, not just to make money. B Corps are leaders in sustainable and responsible business practices.

Why is it important for Sensat?

As an organisation, Sensat has always been committed to operating in a sustainable and responsible manner. We believe that businesses have a responsibility to the planet and the people they serve. So, becoming a B Corp felt like a good way for us to externally demonstrate our commitment to Sensat's core values of sustainability and social responsibility.

Kat Maclean, Sensat’s Director of Product and Sustainability Sponsor explains:

"Becoming a Certified B Corporation felt like a natural fit for Sensat. The certification process has been rigorous but that has only made it all the more rewarding. The assessment really made us look even deeper internally about ourselves as a sustainable and responsible organisation, what policies we have in place today for our people and planet, but also where we can be doing more.

Reflecting on construction, it is one of the most environmentally damaging industries in the world. And at Sensat we believe that innovation and technology has the power to be a force for good. By leveraging information and collaboration teams can make better, more informed decisions and reduce waste in order to reduce the damage caused.”

Our B Corp metrics

In order to achieve B Corp certification an in-depth assessment process is undertaken. Across 5 categories scoring is weighted across governance, workers, community, environment and customers - with dozens of questions in each. There are 200 points up for grabs and the threshold for becoming a B Corp is 80 points. Meanwhile, the average score across all businesses is 50.9.

Sensat was evaluated by the B Corp analysts and scored 113 points, which we are incredibly proud of. Our strongest scores fell into the categories of Workers, Governance and Environment. However, where there is always room for improvement, we will continue to work hard in all areas to boost our scores, especially as we mature as an organisation. B Lab requires organisations to recertify every 3 years, which means we have a great opportunity to beat our score next time.

3 tips when thinking about certifying

To those thinking about certifying… buckle up because it is a long ride!

1. Engage early on and regularly with all the relevant stakeholders both in advance of, and during, the certification process, as you will require input from across the business on a number of topics. The more buy-in and support you get from the business, the smoother and more efficient the certification process will be. Dividing and conquering is key!
2. It is important to be able to back up the claims you make as part of the process and the answers you provide. Make sure you answer all questions truthfully and transparently; greenwashing will only lead to problems when it comes to presenting evidence and verification during the later stages of the process.
3. Finally, it is easier to become B Corp certified when you are still a small (yet fast-growing) business laying down the building blocks of your business model, as opposed to when you have become more rigid in structure.

Sensat’s latest initiatives

This year we undertook our first Employee Environmental Engagement Survey to gain an understanding of our colleagues' attitudes towards sustainability (both personally and how we are doing as a company). This helped us diagnose the current state of play of environmental engagement at Sensat: what we’re currently getting right as well as where there is room for improvement.

This assessment provided us with insight into how people at Sensat value sustainability. It revealed 93% of Sensat employees have a personal interest in sustainability whilst 60% of the team responded that sustainability was a factor or motivation for joining Sensat.

We believe that to be a sustainable business, we need a holistic approach to our environmental practices. It should be woven into our business strategy, practices and culture, as opposed to performing a ‘sustainability stunt’ or ‘greenwashing’. We want sustainability to be ‘baked in’ as opposed to ‘bolted on’.

Following the survey results, we have put some additional actions in place to improve our approaches, both in terms of our immediate impact, as well as environmental culture improvements. Initiatives include:

• Monthly ‘Carbon Chats’ held by our internal environmental group, which focuses on creating an open forum to learn and discuss current climate issues (e.g. fast fashion and the geographies of food).
• An internal audit of all collateral to make sure that we are transparent and truthful about our environmental commitments
• Joined the construction sustainability group Zero
• Fully supported remote working, thereby reducing the carbon footprints of our employees
• Offset all of our emissions by tracking each and every data capture’s direct emissions.

Conclusion

Sensat is fueled by our mission to help construction become more sustainable. We believe that although construction is one of the world’s most polluting industries, it doesn’t have to be that way. By using Sensat your teams can leverage better decision-making, reduce rework and minimise their project’s carbon footprint from the get-go.

Learn how Sensat helped Octavius to save 7.4 tonnes of CO2 as a result of reduced site visits. Read the case study.